Give the (last-minute) gift of Episodic Medium this holiday season
A look ahead to what your subscription will get you in early 2023
Greetings, subscribers. This is ultimately not the last you’ll hear from Episodic Medium this year—I’ve got some work obligations to finish up, but I’ve also got thoughts on Avatar: The Way of Water and a Christmas edition of the (mostly) weekly newsletter in my brain that I’d love to get on the page if I have time, in addition to reviews of the final episodes of His Dark Materials and the end of Mythic Quest’s third season for paid subscribers.
However, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for joining me—well, us, as it turned out—this year at Episodic Medium. This began as a personal project where I expected to review fifty episodes of television over the course of the year. By the end of the year, myself and my contributors will have reviewed over four times that, for an audience far beyond even my long-term vision of what Episodic Medium could become.
And while the end of the year is often a time for reflection, whether in the form of lists or meditations on the past twelve months, I’ll admit that I’m too busy looking ahead to wax nostalgic on 2022 (and I’m not just saying that because I hate lists, but it’s not not part of it). I want to ensure that 2023 continue the momentum we’ve had this year, and that those of you who have chosen to join this community as a paid subscriber continue to find value in your contributions to our efforts. I also want to ensure that I can keep supporting and expanding the roster of contributing critics that have been so kind as to join me in this effort.
As such, I want to give you a look ahead to a (tentative) schedule for the first quarter of next year, and remind you that if you’re looking for a last-minute Christmas gift for the TV lovers in your life, Substack makes it easy to gift them subscriptions.
And while I’d hope that those of you who have been subscribed have a pretty clear vision of what you’d be gifting, I know that what we’re covering makes a tangible difference, so here’s a quick look ahead.
In January, LaToya Ferguson’s coverage of Abbott Elementary will return, Lisa Weidenfeld will wrap up Mythic Quest’s third season, and we’ll have coverage of the first seasons of HBO’s The Last of Us, Peacock’s Poker Face, and Apple TV+ dramedy Shrinking. In addition, in preparation for the second season coming to Showtime in March, we’ll have weekly reviews of Yellowjackets’ first season.
February mostly continues coverage, but then late in the month we celebrate the one-year anniversary of Episodic Medium with the return of a true cult classic of weekly reviews: Party Down, which Starz is reviving for the dozens of us who demanded it.
March brings the return of Survivor, the arrival of Yellowjackets’ second season, and the continuation of our Disney+ Star Wars show coverage with The Mandalorian. In addition, I’m considering covering Daisy Jones and the Six, but I’m going to read the book and see how folks feel about the screeners before I commit.
In addition, although they don’t yet have release dates, we’ll also definitely be covering the following this Spring:
Succession Season 4
Ted Lasso Season 3
Severance Season 2
The Other Two Season 3
Barry Season 4
This means that we’re again on pace to cover over 200 episodes of television this coming year, meaning that a yearly subscription has you paying less than $0.25 for each review. And even if you’re not watching every one of these shows, I hope there’s enough you’re interested in to join the conversation, and perhaps give the gift of a subscription to someone else you want to talk TV with. There’s also plans afoot with Substack’s Chat feature (including allowing subscribers to start conversations), along with our usual Q&A or Discussion posts, so while I’ve probably said this many times, there’s no better time to subscribe than now.
Thank you again to everyone for joining us, and if you spend the holidays catching up on any shows we’ve covered this year, please comment as you read through the reviews—the notification system means I’ll at least see them, and I’m always encouraged to see conversation continuing on in the months after a show finishes.
See you in the new year (and, y’know, for the remaining reviews you’ll receive over the holiday),
Myles McNutt
Editor, Episodic Medium
Very happy to see you implement something like what you're doing with Yellowjackets - going back to review the previous season episodically ahead of a new season's release. Very cool. Looking forward to 2023!